While most charities collect food and clothing and send it off to places where poverty is an ongoing issue, LEAD Uganda takes a different approach by providing education. The organization strives to achieve long-term goals such as creating an educated country instead of short-term goals such as providing food for a week. By giving education to children, the country will benefit by having educated leaders and generations who can help solve problems within the country. “Realizing that education is really the starting point to change a child's life is a big step forward,” sophomore club member Brittany Henry said.
LEAD Uganda places children in some of the best schools in Uganda where they will receive the education they deserve to become the next generation of leaders. “I think the most important thing here is to understand that you are not only helping, but it's a mutual benefit,” LEAD Ugandan student Paul Ntege said. Ntege visited Darien High School on December 11th, and he got the chance to experience DHS and compare it to his school experience in Uganda. Through LEAD Uganda, the students in Uganda are given huge opportunities to change the future of their country for the better, and the students here in Darien are given the chance to make connections and contribute to their community and other communities in the area. It is a win-win situation for everybody involved.
In an effort to branch out to other communities, LEAD Uganda club members at DHS have been partnering up with Brien McMahon High School, and together, they discuss issues that are important in their communities as well as their mutual work benefitting the Ugandan charity. Issues such as stereotypes and insecurities have been the center of discussion because the Darien and Norwalk students believe that they are the roots of the problems in their communities. “Our connection with McMahon really helps us to realize that there are ways we can be leaders and maintain a partnership on a local level,” Henry said. By creating this partnership, they realize that many of the problems in Darien are actually similar to those in Norwalk and in Uganda.
“Do we want to see poverty, misery and suffering in the world? Do we want to hear of cases in which children die of hunger?” Ntege asked. These are some of the problems that LEAD Uganda is trying its hardest to mitigate and although it might not seem like these problems affect us, if we look around the world, they become an issue. That is a major goal of LEAD Uganda, to inspire others to look outside of their small worlds and realize that the world is a lot more than what we all see every day.
Think about it; imagine what the other seven billion people in the world are doing right at this very moment. LEAD Uganda students “discuss important topics and become more open-minded about the issues [affecting] both . . . our communities and [the world] globally as well,” Henry said. For students who are a part of LEAD Uganda the best part is “establishing communication” with the students in Uganda, sophomore Megan Kristof said.
Another important aspect of LEAD Uganda is fostering leadership and responsibility among its members. Both students in Uganda and in Darien are taught leadership by becoming active members of their communities. “Everyone is given their own leadership position” junior Holly Gordon said. By contributing to students’ lives in Uganda, LEAD Ugandan students are becoming leaders who will benefit their communities here in the United States.
The relationships created by LEAD Uganda show how the program stands out because “dimensional relationships” are formed, sophomore Sam Stine said. Providing education to students in Uganda gives those students the chance to shape their lives in a way they want. I might finish by stating how the experience shapes the lives of DHS members as well.
Check out Neirad's previous coverage on the club: http://www.darienps.org/neirad/1106LEADUganda.php
